'Twas the Night Before Christmas

'Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house,
one creature was stirring; just me, not the spouse.
The stockings were hung, the presents were wrapped,
the baby was sleeping, and so was the cat.

The monster was snuggled, all warm in his bed,
as bottles of milk, surely danced in his head.
Little Kitty in her PJ's, and me in my own,
her sleeping, I waking, shivering of cold.

When out on the windows, there arose such a clatter,
I wondered to myself "Such wind, how it batters!"
Yet towards the window I went anyway,
to look at the end of this cold winter's day.

And as I sat thinking, a noise filled the air!
The baby was screaming, and I soon was there.
And just as I had gotten him to sleep,
came the jingling of bells, and his waking from dream.

He stirred! It was close! Then he fell back asleep.
Santa would live, I would give him no grief.
And then, ever faintly, I heard a faint voice,
Calling the names of small girls and boys.

"Now Haden, now Jacey, now Aubrey, now Jensen!
and Alex and Evan and Jackson and all kids!
You've been good boys and girls, so presents for all!
To dash with and play with and have fun through fall!"

Then he shot to each roof and through each chimney he went,
and for those without, he went through the vent.
For each little child he dropped lots of toys,
and from each these, received his own joy.

And then on the roof oh! What did I hear?
but the pawing and prancing of eight reindeer!
So I peeked down the stairs, in a ninja-like way,
and saw old man Santa (trailing some hay).

He was dressed all in fur, and PETA was mad,
for Santa had never been a part of their fad.
And the bundle of toys that he had on his back,
now beeped and whirred and glowed and zapped.

"It's not like the old days," he said with a laugh.
"Every year those elves have to learn a new craft!
Electronics and gizmos and gadgets and such,
Why back in my day, our toys weren't so much!"

But as he lit up his pipe his eyes twinkled and shone,
and he grinned and he giggled and then he bellowed.
"No, kids these days, they're sure not the same,
but one thing's not changed, they believe in my sleigh!"

Then I couldn't help but chime, "Santa how can you say?
That though things have changed they are so much the same?"
Then he turned and he laughed and he said "Dear old lad,
you once came to think that I was your dad!"

"Yet here I stand, and just plain as day,
you can see me and touch me, and even this hay!
I never really left, my spirit lives on,
it's how we teach our kids dreams and so on!

"So remember this night, oh young little dad,
and teach your young boy to give and be glad!"
Then he twinkled and hopped, and went out of site,
and I heard him take off, I saw him take flight!

Off like a rocket so fast he did go,
and falling behind him came flakes of snow.
And I heard him exclaim, as he drove out of sight,
"Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!"

I will post again, promise

I will make a post here soon. Moving + Classes + Homework + Baby + Family = Destruction of my blogging ability.

As penance, please accept the following pictures of cuteness. :-)








I will make a post here soon. Moving + Classes + Homework + Baby + Family = Destruction of my blogging ability.

As penance, please accept the following pictures of cuteness. :-)

Fun Times

Sorry it's been a while since I last wrote. Things have been really busy with tests and papers and all that good stuff. :-P

The Little Monster is doing well. He continues to grow, play, squeal, and scream (mostly when you're trying to change him). And he also did something REALLY exciting that I missed!

We were at Fuddrucker's for lunch with several people from church, and our order was called, so naturally I went off to get it. As soon as I left, the Monster looks around the restaurant with a confused look on his face, and says "Dada?"

He said it.

I missed it.

Blasted burgers, heh.

But yeah! I officially have a name, even if he does say it at the most inopportune times. That's exciting. I'm pretty sure "Mama" is coming soon. He definitely knows who his mama is, we just haven't heard him use it yet. He's growing crazy fast now too. There are now 5 fangs, the better to bite you with, and he's in the 90th percentile in length/height, and the 30th percentile in weight. You wouldn't know he was in the bottom 1/2 of the weight percentages though, the kid's pretty thick.

So that's about the Little Monster. Now for my wife.

Today the Little Kitty and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary. We actually celebrated it on Saturday with a movie, steak dinner, and the all-important baby-sitting friends. It was a lot of fun. These past 2 years have been amazing. Not always easy, and sometimes very complicated, but amazing.

My wife is as kind, loving, caring, smart, witty, sarcastic, funny, and organized as I could ever wish for. She truly is such a huge portion of my heart, my life, and she is my own little love story in this shattered, broken world. To my dearest on this tier of life, I love you.

So I'll end with that. To say more seems silly. Simple, uncomplicated words seem best for a life that is, when it really comes down to it, simple and uncomplicated. There is love here, and that is enough.

Mr. Conductor

This was the Little Monster on Sunday. The hat didn't last long, but I did manage to snap this picture of him. As an example of how he has developed over the last week, let me tell you a little story.

There is a fun new game the Monster likes to play, and it involves crawling off towards his room, opening the doors, going in, and shutting the doors so he can play. Now personally, I didn't think that started for at least another 13 years, but them's the breaks I guess.

So a few days ago, the wifey was watching him do this (as we always do, you take your eyes off that kid for a second and he's ramming his head into somethin'), and after he got into his room, she asked him if he wanted to come back over to momma. His response?

He shut the door and went off playing with the springy doorstop behind it.

I still can't tell that story without laughing about it. Here we are, so sure that we know his personality, and he pulls things like this. It's really fun to keep discovering things about him.

Another development with the Little Monster is the growth of his Little Fangs on top. His lower fangs came in a while back but now the top ones are broken through and trying to get bigger. He does not appreciate this, which makes him a rather irritable Monster. So we bust out the Ora-jel (man that stuff works! even when you're just getting the excess off your fingers by licking it off), and the baby Tylenol. These two objects, often combined, soothes the Little Monster enough that he doesn't become the Raging Monster of Doom and Screaming.

But that's pretty much the last week in a nutshell. It still strikes me at times, when I see him (often when he's sleeping on the Little Kitty), just how blessed I am and how much I love my wife and child. Its shocking, really, like how a bolt of lightening hits a transformer and erupts into sparks and balls of energy and light.

An amazing thing, this life we've been given.

Weeeee!

Sorry about the delay this week. I had a test today that I had to really study for (pretty sure I did well on it too!). Anyways, back to our story...

The Little Monster has reached a new point in development, as of today. HE WALKS!! Well, kind of. He walks along the couch now! He has no balance whatsoever when he's not holding onto something, but he can move around even more now (which has both good and bad implications)! Furthermore, he's learned how to open the doors into his room (they're french doors without any latching mechanisms). Things are really getting fun to watch now.

Today he also did something to me that I really enjoyed. Usually when he wants me he'll crawl over to me and kind of hit my feet or legs with his hands. Today, however, he crawled over, and climbed up my leg so he was standing while holding onto my pant leg. It's a small thing, to be sure, but I'm definitely excited and proud of the little guy.

To conclude with this part of the story, I expect him to be doing this in the next couple of months:



In other news, school is going fairly well, and life has been good. We have a "research week" next week, in which we don't have to attend classes. The flip side to this is that I have something like 2 papers, a book report, and 2 or 3 midterm exams the week after that, which means I'm going to be extremely busy anyway.

Well, it's probably time to wrap up this sadly short blog entry. I still have some homework to do before bedtime.

Have a good one all!

Delay

Sorry, but I'm going to have to delay this post until tomorrow night. Big test coming up and gotta prepare for it.

Thanks!

Becoming a Boy

The Little Monster has been very busy as of late...

Busy being AWESOME

So yeah, he crawls, he laughs, he's getting a personality...

He's becoming a boy! Oh noes!

Its really weird seeing this happen. Just the other day we had brought him home, and he was so tiny I was half scared that I would break him in half when I changed his clothes. He seemed so frail, so absolutely in need of us that we would never be able to look away for more than a second*.

Now I toss him in the air like a rag doll, splash water in his face in the bath, and throw stuffed animals at his head. I do this all, of course, to see him smile and hear his laugh, and I'm realizing what people that had kids before me meant when they said that there isn't a better sound than your child's laughter.

The Little Monster is, of course, also in to everything. I'm about to be convinced that the fireplace and objects with sharp corners have a gravitational pull for babies. I remember anxiously waiting the day when the Monster would be able to play and crawl and all that good stuff, and now that it's here I almost don't know what to do with him sometimes. So I let him crawl on me, chew on me, and bury him in his box of toys or trap him under the hamper. It's fun times, indeed.

The Little Monster is transitioning, ever slowly yet at Warp 9, from a tiny, helpless baby into a functioning little boy.

I'm so excited and ready to see what he'll become, but you know, I'll take him just like he is for the little while longer that I can.

Let the good times roll.


*Of course, at this time, he was also kind of boring, being as he did nothing but eat, sleep, and poo (which gets old faster than you think, believe it or not, lol).

Too Late for Tonight

Sorry about missing last week. I had to get some school stuff done.

Also, I apologize for there not being a post tonight, as I had to finish writing my paper about the purpose of Jesus' ministry as told in Luke.

Tomorrow I should have time to get a post up, but as it is it's 2AM, which means it's bed-time for bonzo, as Dad used to say.

See ya then!

Picture Day! 8-1-2009

He's just so cute, I couldn't resist. :-)

BLAMMO!

All was quiet in the Kemp household this morning. The couches were sat upon, the child playing on the floor as the TV quietly spoke of the goings-on in the world of some comedy show, and all were relaxed.

The key word here is "were".

Suddenly, from the other side of the couch, came a THUNK, followed by an otherworldly wailing and gnashing of...well...mostly gums...

Yes, the Little Monster managed to find the one unprotected corner in the entire house that he could get to, and proceeded to bash his face into it. The results were as follows:


That red bump just above the Little Monster's right eye is, as you may have guessed, a goose egg. The Little Kitty felt terrible. She had looked away for just a couple of seconds and he managed to smash his face. Note: This picture was taken after we cheered him back up, which took all of about 30 seconds. He's tough.

I have to admit though, as a father, it's kind of a proud moment for him to get his first goose egg. Now I'm not happy that he hurt himself, not in the least, but it shows that our baby is turning into a Real Boy, and that Real Boy will one day undoubtedly do dangerous things, during which he will hurt himself worse, which will help turn him into a Real Man. So while, yes, it is sad that he hurt himself, it's also another step in his growth and development.

And besides, the bump went away within a couple of hours. Like I said, he's tough.

P.S.: I am also starting another blog chronicling our adventures at the Sunset International Bible Institute called Into the Sunset. I will be updating that one at the same that I do this blog, so if you're interested you can head on over there as well. The link is over on the right with the others.

Have a good one and remember, watch those corners!

Let the Good Times Roll

I seem to be learning that even when Life is difficult, Life is still, at the basic level, good.

With the Little Monster teething now, he's been getting earaches, and the occasional low-grade fever. On top of this, he's slowed down his feeding because he enjoys chewing on the bottle more than eating it, and he also enjoys pulling people's hair, munching on things he shouldn't, and and screaming bloody murder when we put him down for his naps.

At the same time, he enjoys spending time with mommy and me, looking at us with his Big Blues and smiling so big you can't help but return it. He now will look at you, go "Bahbahbahbahbah!!!", and then give you a look as if to say "Well, I told you what I wanted, can't you understand me?". The Little Monster enjoys being thrown up (small amounts) in the air, tickled, taken outside, and run around like an airplane.

It seems to me that with every difficult situation we can find it's opposite. There are sometimes a lot of setbacks like messed up feedings, worrying about if he's actually OK from smashing his head on the wall (because, obviously, it should move out of the way, come on now), and making sure that the occasional scream-fest is more tooth-pain related than him getting sick.

Because for each moment like that, you get moments like this:


And this:

And of course this:

Yes, there are things in life that can and will be difficult and even seemingly impossible, baby or no baby. But it's something worth fighting for. Because there are so many moments made possible by us surging through whatever comes against us that the struggles we face are made unimportant when compared to the rewards we get by making it to the end.

It seems that this is a place to remind ourselves that God is good, and that He will help us and be our strength when we need it and we ask it of Him. Life, at the basic level, is good.

Let the Good Times Roll

Haden Balboa

Well, it finally happened. Haden had an encounter with a bucket, and the bucket won. Apparently he tried to pull himself onto the bucket to chew on it, when he slipped off and wacked himself in the face. This all occurred during a diaper change, so this battle was done in the buff, and mommy was forced to comfort him until he calmed down before said diaper change could be completed.

In other news...

The family have all been out of town. We went to the Barking Donkey's (my parent's) for the fourth of July, and afterwards the Little Kitty and Monster went to Young Nani's (her parent's), while I went to Austin to help out with our old church's Jr. High camp. Everyone had a good time, and camp went well. Overall, it was a very successful couple of weeks.

Furthermore, on the way to the Barking Donkey's we had a droolfest and then a first tooth! The next week, there was a second tooth ready to surface (which is being stubborn and hasn't broken through yet). It's all very exciting news, and I would love to have a picture of it, but it's proven a Herculean task so far to get a picture inside his mouth, because he won't keep it open for you to and freaks out when you try to open it yourself. So if I manage to get a picture, I'll post it.

The Little Monster is also in the beginning stages of crawling! He rocks back and forth and does the caterpillar crawl, and in the next couple of weeks I believe he'll be in full go-mode.

Well, that's all the news for now. Life is good and things are exciting! All of our out-of-town plans are done, so things should go back to pretty normal until school begins.

Have a good week and we'll see you again later!

Back in Action

Apologies for the lack of posts the last week and a half. We've been out of town and haven't been able to post.

I'll have a new one up tomorrow.

Thanks!

Hallelujah | Family News

Thought for the day:

If you haven't heard the song Hallelujah written by Leonard Cohen, you're missing out, really. Go listen to it, like now, on YouTube or somethin'.

One of my favorite lines from the song is "Love is not a victory march, it's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah".

Love's victory comes from it's permanence. It stems from it's unceasing devotion to that which it is given. Love itself is not the victory march. It will lead us to victory, if we let it, but love is more than the warm feelings and fuzzy bunnies. I think that true love, the kind of love that we show our spouses, our children, and our families, the kind of love that God shows us, is so much deeper than that. It's the love that caused the Christ, the Son of the Most High, to become that cold and broken hallelujah, and to do it willingly, and with what I believe is joy to be able to show our fallen race how much He loves us.


In other news:

Haden is doing great. He's got the flop-crawl thing going, which can be pretty funny. He can turn in circles but can't crawl forwards yet, and he's learned a new bladder control trick where he saves up all the pee he can and let's it all go in one diaper. Yeah...babies are weird.

Also, if you haven't seen it already, scroll down to the post below this one. We had a mini photo day, and those were the better ones that came out of it. Sometime coming up we're gonna have individual portrait day, so when we do that those pictures will be up as well (I love taking pictures, it really is way fun).

On a completely different topic, the fan on my video card broke, so I have to send it in to get it repaired and replaced. This means probably a week or 2 with gimped computer, which makes me sad and slightly irritated, but that's life I guess.

Also, the Little Kitty is doing pretty well. Man I love her. She's a very calming presence for the Little Monster. It seems that I've kind of turned into a big toy for him, but when he wants the better things in life (comfort, support, a place to nap), she's the one he's yelping (yes, yelping!) for.

Well, for a 2 part post I think this is probably enough to write about. Everyone be safe out there and remember who you are and whose you are!

Picture Day!

Back from the Maelstrom

Before we begin, allow me to apologize for not writing for the last 6 months. It's no excuse, but it's been a crazy blur with getting used to the Little Monster, as well as several other factors which will be discussed shortly.

Now, however, things will be different. There will be a schedule (gasp!), which will probably be a post every Wednesday late-night / early Thursday morning. I figure if I set aside a specific time to do this, then I'll likely be able to keep up with it. So anyway, on with the (massively long) update on our lives.

In February, my new exciting position in the Marketing department of a large oil company was downsized during a Series of Unfortunate Events (a.k.a. wide-scale corporate downsizing). This presented the crew with a choice. I could get a new job somewhere else, work my way up again, and continue down that path, or I could change direction and do something that had been on my mind for the last 6 or 7 years.

We chose to change the direction of the ship.

After much soul searching, praying, and research, I decided (with the Little Kitty on board, of course), to go into ministry, specifically youth and family ministry (I can post the details of it later, but this post is more of a general overview of where we are now). So the crew has moved to Lubbock, TX, where I will Lord willing be attending the Sunset International Bible Institute with a focus on Youth and Family ministry. This is not to say that, should I feel compelled to do so, I cannot switch to another type of ministry, but right now this is where I feel the call to be.

So the ship sailed, and grew as well! If of course, you consider the ship to be our home, and the whole sailing thing our move. Our new home is so much larger than our tiny apartment back in Austin. We actually have room to put things, room for the Little Monster to play, and even room to keep the place clean! Please don't ask why I'm on an "Out at Sea" theme tonight, as I have no idea, heh.

Special props by the way to my big little brother and dad for helping us move everything and get it unpacked. Also, props to everyone who helped us load and/or unload the storage unit so we could get everything here. We love all of you, and miss you greatly.

The Little Monster has gotten a lot bigger as well. He now weighs nearly a whopping 16 pounds!!! If you recall, when he was born he was a mere 7 pounds 11 ounces. My Little Monster is becoming much bigger very quickly.

His mobility has also increased. While he cannot quite crawl yet, he does have the whole rolling thing down pretty well. So far when he tries to crawl, however, he only uses his feet, and rubs his face into the carpet. This, of course, hurts (ever dragged your face on the ground?), which makes him cry and complain. The funny part about this is it doesn't stop him. He just keeps dragging his face along the ground until he gets where he wants. Of course, by the time he gets there, he's often so mad that he doesn't care that he's reached his objective, and wants one of us instead. He's stubborn like that. I blame his momma (love you honey!).

So here we are. School starts in August, I'll be working day-jobs until then, and life plugs along. There will be some visual changes to the blog as well, so keep an eye out for it! There may even be an extra post or two in the next week or so, as I have a little extra time and a lot to write about.

So farewell! So long! And see you soon!

And Then There Were 3 (part 2)

That evening while we were sleeping, your mother woke up at around 11:30 PM. She was feeling rather crampy and in some pain, so instead of waking me she decided to go downstairs and watch some TV. It didn't take very long for the pain to increase, however, at which point she did decide to wake me up and say the words that changed everything.

"Hun, I think he might be coming or something."

Well, needless to say, that phrase got me out of bed and we spent the next hour or so timing when the contractions hit and how long they lasted. Funny thing was, they were already coming every 4-5 minutes. At this point we decided to call the hospital, and eventually they told us to go ahead and come in.

So around 2:30 in the morning we went off to the hospital and spent a long time getting seen by the nurses until they finally decided that yes, you were on the way. They decided this because when they were checking momma to see how much see was dilated, her water broke. At that point they asked if she wanted something for the pain, a type of shot to put in her I-V and make her feel better. While they got everything ready we called your grandparents (Noni and Popi, and Nunu and Papa). Your momma's parents answered the phone, but my didn't hear it ring, because it was the one time that the phone had been left in the other room.

Then the pain medicine came, and it did quite the number on your mother. She felt on top of the world, but it made her kind of loopy. A little while later, once it had worn off some, she asked for an epidural, and they snaked a long tube up her spine that pumped really good medicine
into her that let her feel no pain while the contractions continued to come.

After that happened, we slept. The sleep was wonderful, even though I was on a small uncomfortable couch bed, and all was peaceful.

Then the morning came.

Noni and Popi made it to the hospital about a couple of hours before you came. Doctor Solomon was in surgery that morning, so we waited for a while until he could come and deliver you.

Finally the time arrived. The doctor came, and your Noni and I helped your mother push and push so that you could come out. Then your head appeared, and you kind of looked like a purplish alien poking out. At this point something strange happened. You got stuck.

When this happened we were glad that Doc Solomon was there. He didn't panic at all, and just reached in and spun you around until you came out! The nurses all wisked you away to get you cleaned and ready for life in the outside world. Then they gave you to momma to hold for a few minutes before they took you to the NICU. They had to take you there because you had a small problem in the womb and they just wanted to make especially sure that everything was OK.

Papa and Nunu arrived at the hospital about an hour after you were born and everyone had a wonderful time looking at you and holding you and talking to you. Our little family had finally grown by 1, and it was clear that you truly held a special place in everyone's hearts.

You had arrived making it was clear that you were ours to love and cherish and grow.

And then there were three.